DeSclafani injures oblique, opens up a spot in the rotation

Anthony DeSclafani suffered an oblique injury on Friday night. C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic was the first to report it, but he beat a few other reporters by a matter of seconds with the report.

It was two years ago that an oblique injury cost Anthony DeSclafani the first half of the year. Not all oblique injuries cost a player that much time, but it’s usually not a situation where it’s not usually a “miss a week”, either. It’s an unfortunate step in the wrong direction, again, for the right hander who just can’t seem to buy a break on the health front.

While there is no timetable right now, it would seem that it’s very likely at this point that he will not be ready to begin the season. That would open up a second spot in the rotation. It would appear that right now Sal Romano has a leg up on everyone for the spot that was the #5 spot. But if another spot is going to be open, that means that Robert Stephenson, Amir Garrett, Tyler Mahle, and Michael Lorenzen all could jump into that role.

The last time out, Robert Stephenson looked outstanding. He averaged 96.5 MPH on his fastball, more importantly threw it for strikes, and topped out at 98.6. He had a later start to the spring than the others after dealing with a neck issue for a few days before games began.

Amir Garrett has been the most dominant pitcher in the spring for the Reds so far. The left hander has posted a 2.57 ERA in his three games played. That’s come with just two walks and 11 strikeouts in 7.0 innings pitched. Garrett has also been throwing 94-98 MPH, a big jump up from where he was last year when he was dealing with a hip injury for most of the season.

For Tyler Mahle, he’s sort of been a bit forgotten about in the conversation, but he’s put together a quality spring thus far. The youngest of the contenders, the 23-year old has a 3.72 ERA in 9.2 innings with two walks and nine strikeouts. Opponents are hitting just .161 against him.

Big day for Michael Lorenzen

Today will be a big day for Michael Lorenzen. He’s scheduled to pitch in the game against Seattle. He’s posted a 14.73 ERA in 3.2 innings. His innings are lower than the others because he pitched in a “B-Game” the last time out, and those stats aren’t being accounted for. Still, with how well the other options have looked, it’s going to take strong outings from here on out to remain in the conversation.

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2018 season going up in smoke before our eyes… not that any of us really believed Desclafani would be a factor. I was hopeful for Finnegan though. I had the volume down because of company, so I didn’t see what the injury was.

Beginning to look like opportunity for Romano, Stephenson, Garrett, and Mahle may be opening up.

I’m still not convinced that Homer will be healthy enough to be effective either! You would think a lefty like Amir would have a leg up in the grand scheme of things but he hasn’t face ML hitters so far and has not been reliable so far in his career. My money is on Mahle. Very polished for his age

My leaning is towards seeing big Sal and Bob Steve get to open the season in the rotation. If they both continue the way they have looked lately they deserve it based on last year too. Plus it gives Mahle and Garrett more time to prove they belong in AAA. They will also be ready to fill in when the opportunity presents itself. As today has unfortunately shown, those opportunities pop up out of nowhere at times.

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